Will RIM End Up In Dell’s Arms?

Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was counting on the BlackBerry Playbook to pull them out of their downward spiral. But there was only a lukewarm reception to the Playbook, and RIM’s future continued to look glum. Gartner estimates that Apple’s iOS will continue to dominate the worldwide media tablet market through 2015. iOS will account for 69% of media tablet operating systems in 2011 and represent 47% of the media tablet market in 2015. Other researchers estimate that Apple iPad sales will reach 24 million this year. Playbook will be a significantly smaller player with 2 million sales, followed by Motorola Xoom’s 1.75 million units. >>>

1M/1M: Mobile and Social Apps Module Of The Curriculum Is Ready

Readers, we have just released the Mobile and Social Apps module of the 1M/1M premium curriculum. In it, you will find a synthesis of the various trends and opportunities that I see at this point, along with case studies and video lectures. I will do an additional module specifically focused on Gaming, coming soon.

The 1Mby1M Deal Radar 2010: AppMakr.com and PointAbout, Washington, DC

As Deal Radar draws to a close for 2010, it’s fitting that one of final companies to be covered has its finger on the pulse of many of the decade’s important tech trends. AppMakr.com is a “no coding” platform that enables non-developers to create iPhone (and soon Android and Windows) mobile apps for their brands, large or small. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 7)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: What about higher education–specific vendors?

RS: I would put Apple in there. Apple would count as an education-specific vendor.

SM: How so? Do they have specific offerings for higher education?

RS: Every other year, Apple organizes a conference for CIOs in higher education. They have account executives who are focused only on higher education. Apple also has pricing models that are beneficial to the higher education sector. These are some of the things they do, and our Apple user base in higher education in general qualifies them as a vendor. This is a pretty significant shift to the Apple platform across higher education that has created an interesting and creative dynamic. This is an interesting dialogue happening among colleges and universities. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 6)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: I think when you talk in terms of e-mail or CRM, the basic e-mail or CRM, these are horizontal functionalities. You would definitely have an advantage if you use somebody else’s solution that has been built, tested, and scaled, and something that is scalable on this level has the right kind of support. There is no reason to reinvent that wheel for higher education specific solutions if there is such horizontal functionality available today. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 5)

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 4)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: There are applications on Salesforce that are specific to fundraising; have you looked at those in this process?

RS: Well, I wanted a solution that was specific to higher education, non-profit fundraising versus just non-profit fundraising and other areas. I also wanted this solution to be connected to our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in ways that made the two more valuable for our fundraisers. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 3)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: In addition to e-mail, what other workloads at Westmont College have you moved to the cloud?

RS: We followed that with other projects based on community input here at Westmont. Another thing we really wanted to get right was wireless. When I arrived, the existing wireless setup covered approximately 30% of the campus, and the performance and liability in that was that it did not meet end user expectations. >>>